Obviously that was Bran's secret plot all along! Having the ability to see both the past and the future, Bran knew that if he just kept quiet and subtly played the others then the chance to seize the throne would appear! All hail Bran, the true puppetmaster in the Game of Thrones!

Well, Ghost pretty much covered how it is. You sound like a great boss, Atrayas, and your employees are lucky to have a supervisor that takes such an invested interest in building a rapport with them. In a perfect world it'd be great if we could do the same with all the members of the Clan, or even most of them, but that can get pretty difficult. I just dealt with the PM's I had here on the forum and then I came here to read and reply to what you posted. Between the two of those things alone it will have taken about 2 hours out of my time, and now I have to decide how much of the remainder of my evening I need to split between the work I still need to finish and the games I want to play with the members I hang out with. And that's assuming I'm not pulled into anything else that requires my attention in the Clan in the meantime.
I've never had any interest in 7 days to die, and I'm sorry to hear you haven't had much luck in finding others who do. But you can't really expect people to play the games they don't like, and unfortunately if you keep to yourself and do things that other people aren't really interested in, then you're gonna fall off the radar. You won't get the same awards and promotions as the people who are continuously interacting with others in ways that make them noticed and stand out, because people won't know what you've been doing. That's not really an inherent flaw with the system so much as it's just kind of how life works.
But if you are interested in games like Age of Wonders, Stellaris, Space Engineers, Rocket League, Divinity Original Sin, or whatever the next good mmorpg that comes out is (whenever that will be) then we'll probably spend lots of time together.

Normally if you told me you needed some time to do some growing I'd assume you were talking about your weed. Trying to imagine you deliberately taking time to grow as a person is a bit of a scary thought.

I'm not sure I understand your concern exactly. Is it a bad thing that people wanted to help? Why do you feel like you were forced into it? Did someone make you do something that you didn't want to do?
Yeah, there is always going to be people that say things about us, good and bad. Attention comes in both positive and negative forms, the more you stand out the more people will say things about you. Those who agree with what you do will say nice things, those who disagree with you will complain about you. Just earlier this week I had Hectic accusing me of never doing anything and of constantly protecting Purplez, which means him and Ray probably talked about it at least a few times between each other. You, yourself, have told me that some people consider me unapproachable and pointless to talk with, which I can only imagine means that people have talked about how annoying it is to try and reason with me, how exhausting I am to deal with, or maybe even how I think I'm always right. Good, bad, and the horribly misunderstood, people will think what they will. If they eventually confront you about it, then maybe you can set the record straight with them. Or maybe they'll refuse to believe anything you say and stubbornly stick to what they believe is true. You get all types.
You can't stop people from talking about you, the only thing you can do is make the choices you feel are right, and let your actions speak for you. As long as you keep striving to act in a way that most people will respect and appreciate, then any bad things people might say about you start to become hollow and empty, and make the people who say them seem bitter and resentful. So don't worry so much about what a few people say, let the complainers complain. What matters is that you feel good about the things you do, and about the kind of person you are, and keep aiming to be the best that you can be.

Well when it comes to communication I won't deny that there is always room for improvement. I don't think anyone was intentionally trying to bulldoze over you with the social media ventures, and I certainly made an effort to make it clear that your input in any decision-making part of it was of prime importance, so I'm sorry to hear that you felt like you were being pushed into things a bit but I hope at the very least that you are pleased with the direction Social Media in the Clan is taking now.
Communication can be a tricky thing, I know it is the number one challenge my company often faces when it comes to designing updates and making changes to the game we're developing. It is easy for people wrapped up in the momentum of an idea or a problem to forget to mention it to those who weren't there at the time, and it is easy for those who weren't there at the time to miss something that happened. And I know I've mentioned it before, but it's also easy for people to assume that something which is obvious to them must be obvious to everyone, high ranks and low ranks alike. But the reality is that's rarely the case.
I try to make an effort to improve communication when I see opportunities to do so. After all, that is what led to the creation of this topic. The best thing I can recommend to you is that if you feel there is something that someone should know about, or should have known about, then simply fill them in. However you feel about the fact that they didn't know, the moment you do let them know then that particular problem of communication is fixed.
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As for your communication difficulties with Generals, again it is difficult to judge what is appropriate and what isn't without knowing any of the circumstances, and I don't really want to air a dramatic problem openly in this topic so dealing with it in private would be preferred. But at the very least perhaps I can provide a broad response aimed at situations overall.
Ideally we would prefer if all members felt comfortable talking to any General, and all Generals would help any member, that would make for a perfect world. But things don't really end up that way, sometimes there are understandable reasons for why some members aren't comfortable talking to a General, and though they are often held to a more mature expectation, there ARE legitimate reasons sometimes for why a General may not want to interact with a particular member. Generals are not employees, they are hard-working volunteers doing their best to better the Clan, and if they feel a member is disrespecting them, harassing them, or if they believe interacting with a particular member will lead to problems or re-open old wounds then they may choose not to interact with that member, preferring to let another General help them instead.
Once again I will reiterate that I do not know the circumstances of your conversation with the General you are frustrated with, or what their exact reasons are. I'm only saying that there are situations in which this can happen. Similarly I do not know if the other Generals you have spoken to had reasons for not acting the way you wished, or if they made mistakes. I can't tell you there won't be times where a General doesn't want to get involved, and I can't tell you that the Generals who do get involved won't occasionally make an error. What I CAN tell you about this particular situation is that I haven't had a chance to look into it myself yet, which means you also still have options you can try.

Sounds like that basically covers the first step of restoring activity, if it seems like anything is lacking after the reset then we can look into taking extra steps as needed, but at the moment I don't think there is any cause for concern.

I can understandably imagine how having less gaming activity right now would make some of our active gamers feel a bit antsy, but that's part of a regular cycle. Good games make for long-lasting Divisions, and we've had a few pretty good ones the years before, but as those games and Divisions run their course they eventually wind down and gaming activity drops until fresh new games that excite people are released that in turn inspire new Divisions. We're in a between state at the moment where there hasn't really been any new games that have served as good foundations for strong Divisions, or at least not any that has interested people enough to try and make a Division out of it yet. But another will inevitably come, they always do, and once it does gaming activity will be on the rise again.
In the meantime we'll do what we can to promote activity and prosperity in the Divisions we have, as best as we are able. We won't ignore the state of things, and we'll always do our best to improve and support Clan prosperity, but a drop in gaming activity isn't a herald for the end-times. It is a natural cycle of the Clan, one that it has gone through many times before and will go through again in many times to come.

Has it? I play games almost every night. People are playing Apex Legends plenty, Badboi among them once and a while. Some people still play BDO, D3 is not only active but they hold events, plenty of people are playing PoE as you mentioned. Activity in the D2 Division has waned a bit the last while, which for anyone who was used to the vibrant activity it had before I can understand how that would seem like the Clan overall is in a rut, but that's not really the case and it certainly isn't an indication that community isn't being taken seriously. In terms of the highs and lows of OD throughout history we're still distinctly above average.

Obviously the gaming time can vary quite a bit for each General and Commander, but even the most ardent Administrator among us is still pretty passionate about gaming. Each of us will have to speak for ourselves, but for my part my most common gaming times are between 5pm - 11pm Pacific time. But I've also been known to come on to game in early afternoons if someone asks me to, and I've been known to stay up as late as 4 or 5 in the morning if a game has done a particularly good job of enrapturing my attention. =P
Well actually it took a couple people mentioning some concerning misgivings about leadership, it just so happens those misgivings came out during resignations, which is a bit unfortunate. Hopefully this topic can help clear up some of the disconnect between truth and fiction.
Well there isn't a solution that can be summed up very simply for an issue like that. I can tell you that I've recently had a talk with @PoPs(OD) about the state of things in the D2 Division and he's told me that he'll be coming back to full activity soon and he'll be able to give the D2 Division the attention that it needs. I'm sure he'll be able to elaborate more on it.
Based on what the D2 Division Leaders have planned we'll see if we can get some flow of activity coming in again.
Why do you feel the community area isn't being taken seriously?
Yes. We are collecting information to determine whether there is a need to make changes to promotion requirements, and we are reviewing some ideas on eval changes. There isn't any definitive details to share yet, though, as its still being discussed.
Well a lot of Generals leave their accounts on TS specifically so that they can still be reached in the event something important happens. I can definitely confirm this is the case for me, and people actually use it pretty frequently to send me messages even when I'm in the AFK channel. If I don't respond right away, then I usually respond as soon as I get back. And I know other Generals use it for this reason as well. Even if some of the Generals who are afk aren't able to respond right away, having our accounts on TS at least gives people an option to try and contact each of us if we are needed, and still serves as a convenient way to leave us a message that we can read later.
Well Sunset had an ambitious plan for that in mind, but it is currently on hold until he gets back from Alaska. Aside from that we are definitely making a strong push in our Social Media department right now to give OD more visibility in streaming and Social Media platforms, which would certainly put us on the map more.
We are open to challenges and opposing ideas, but the important thing people have to keep in mind is that just because you feel very strongly that something should be different, feeling alone isn't enough to justify change. When any idea or change is presented that idea is weighed carefully based on three factors. A need, the cost, and the risks. Need is a measurement of how much benefit the idea would provide for OD. Cost is the time, effort, and expenses needed to implement it. And risk is about the kind of alternative effects the change could create in the Clan and if there are any potential problems they could create.
Fundamentally this comes down to comparing the need vs the cost and the risks, where a greater need justifies more cost and risk. However not everyone always feels the same way about the needs and the risks, and if there happens to be a particularly distinct divide then it usually just comes down to a vote.
If someone wants to present a different idea, change, or challenge an idea that has been proposed, then they need to provide evidence and solid reasoning to support the Need while being clear and informative about the cost and risks, and why they would be worth it. The reality is people aren't always very good at that, or even attempt to do it at all. A lot of people present their ideas or their position based simply on the fact that they don't like something, without really providing a basis for why it was bad, and when their view isn't taken seriously they can't help but feel like the opposition just didn't want to listen to them. It is worth noting, also, that the people we select as Generals and high-level Officers are typically people who have specifically demonstrated that they can present their thoughts and ideas in the clear and methodical manner I described, which is why it seems like leaders tend to hold more sway.
So yes, we're open to challenges and opposing ideas, but they have to be presented clearly and logically, not based just on feelings or personal views.
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I mentioned this to Ghostdog before, but there isn't a time limit so there's no need to make a long list of questions all at once. Let's try to keep questions to three or four at a time, and it will make the conversation much easier to follow.